Introduction
Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676 is often thought of as the first armed rebellion by American colonists against the British colonial administration before the American Revolution. A dispute between settlers and Indigenous peoples on the Virginia–Maryland border in the fall of 1675 quickly erupted into a full-scale rebellion as Nathaniel Bacon, an ambitious colonist ,challenged Governor Sir William Berkeley, a wealthy planter. The rebellion resulted in major changes in Virginia’s labor force and relations with Indigenous peoples.
During the 1600s, several different groups of people occupied land along the Chesapeake Bay:
- Indigenous peoples, including the Susquehannocks and the Powhatans, who were involved in their own inter-tribal conflicts
- English land-owning elite seeking fortune in the “New World”
- English indentured servants hoping to eventually own land themselves
- Enslaved Africans violently forced into servitude
A 1630 map of the Virginia colony. (Click on the image to view a larger version.)
As you read about the history of the Virginia colony and the events that led to Bacon’s Rebellion, consider this essential question:
Essential Question:
How did Bacon's Rebellion mark a turning point in relations among planters, indentured servants, enslaved Africans, and Indigenous peoples in colonial Virginia?
